IF ANYONE CAN HELP ME FIX THIS FORMATTING I'D BE VERY HAPPY. IT JUST LOOKS BAD AND UNREADABLE. IDK HOW TO WORK WITH THIS.
Hey hey hey, it's me. I'm not entirely sure how this fic is gonna turn out. Just as an FYI, I can't even begin to tell you how hard it was to actually get started writing it. I'm not easily motivated. I get some good ideas and then can't write them down.
Regardless, I hope the fic is alright, i've never done a multichap fic before and I have pacing problems so those are things I at least acknowledge even if I don't try to make them better. After a read I hope you can give me a couple tips maybe to make it better in the future, that would be cool. Hopefully I'll have a couple chapters written before I actually publish this so I have a buffer and can have some semblance of an update schedule (spoiler:probably won't happen) BUT I WILL TRY MY DAMNED HARDEST. Also will try to keep these notes pretty short in the future.
Since it's the first chapter this note is obviously long. Anyway, despite the plot of this fic I'm not turning into a song fic. There will be a couple lyrics now and then but not many. I'll put the song I'm imagining being sung at the end of each chapter if I think of it.
"Willow..."
"Willow."
"Willow get up right now, I mean it."
"Mmmm...five more minutes."
Buffy looked down at the red head clinging to her legs and using her thighs as a pillow in disbelief, growling and trying to push the girl off her.
"Come on Willow I've got a class to teach in an hour I have to go shower."
Willow didn't move, squeezing her best friend's legs tighter, mumbling something about kittens and pulling her legs up to curl around Buffy's feet, ensnaring the girl tighter in her sleepy grip. Buffy dropped her head against the arm of the couch they had fallen asleep on last night and groaned. She cast a furtive glance around the room looking for something to wake the other girl out of her dead sleep but came up short.
"This is ridiculous," the blonde girl muttered to herself. "If this is what I get no more late night monster movies for us, I happen to have a schedule to keep, Will."
The night before was...interesting. An impromptu dinner and movie get together with Xander and Anya to celebrate Xander's promotion at the construction company he worked at. Xander bought the pizza and brought the movies proudly proclaiming he was "payday man" while Anya pouted behind him about the loss of money and orgasms the night was heading towards.
Unfortunately for Buffy, the combination of Frog Fear and half a bottle of wine left Willow in her lap on the couch and dead to the world by morning.
"Dammit, Xander this is all your fault, I'm not gonna get a shower am I?" She winced slightly as the grip on her legs tightened once again. "What have you been eating, Willow? Jeeze, I run a martial arts studio why in the world can't I get you off me?"
Buffy brushed a strand of coppery hair off her friends face and smiled despite herself at how precious her friend looked sleeping. She slipped the lock behind Willow's ear and gently patted her head causing the lithe girl in her lap to loosen her hold and yawn sleepily.
"Are you kidding me right now, Willow!? I've been trying to get you off me for 10 minutes and a tap on the head wakes you up?"
Willow shrugged and gave her best smile to her angry friend, "Sorry, Buff, I can't control that stuff, I mean maybe I could if I really tried. I don't know though I don't think it works that way...I could try though? That could be kind of fun. But that's not the issue here, I should get off you now."
The red-head tried to extract herself from around Buffy's legs and with a concerned squeak ended up rolling off the couch and slamming into the floor. " Ow..."
Buffy's mouth hung open in shock before the site of Willow pouting on the floor with her arms and legs splayed in different directions set her off laughing.
"Oh my god, WILLOW! You look ridiculous! Oh god where's my phone I need a picture of this."she wheezed, clutching her stomach with tears leaking out of her eyes while she giggled uncontrollably on the couch.
Willow scowled, "It's really not that funny, Buff." Rubbing her head lightly she sat up and reached under the couch pulling out Buffy's phone. "Were you looking for this?" The grin on her face was mischievous at best, dangling the device in her friend's face.
The laughter stopped immediately, "Willow…" the warning tone was obvious, "that is my phone. Give it to me. Right. Now."
"Nope! You laughed at me, you can't have this now, you'll have to face facts and live your life without it." The phone was shoved into her bra and she stuck out her tongue "HA, what now?"
A dangerous glint appeared in Buffy's eye and Willow caught it just in time, skittering backwards across the floor barely escaping Buffy's pounce. Willow crawled away as quick as she could but wasn't quite fast enough to escape Buffy's trained speed, she shrieked when she felt fingers close around her ankle so she couldn't get away.
"Willow! Give me my phone back!"
"You'll have to take it from me!"
Never one to back down from a challenge Buffy lunged and landed on top of the other girl who grabbed her arms to try and keep her away. The blonde was obviously stronger and a with a well trained move wrestled her friend into a hold.
"Are you two serious right now? I thought I was the teenager here." Both of the girls on the floor froze and slowly turned their heads towards the staircase where Dawn was standing with her arms crossed and eyebrow raised.
Taking advantage of the situation Buffy shoved her hand down Willow's shirt, which elicited a squeak from the red-head and a shocked look from the youngest Summers sister, both of which were ignored in favor of celebrating. "HA! You thought I wouldn't do it didn't you? You were wrong, Will, your boobs don't scare me!"
Willow blinked rapidly as Buffy gloated over her victory and shared a look with Dawn. She coughed slightly, "That's...nice Buff but I think you've got a class to teach in like 20 minutes."
Buffy froze, eyes widening. "Oh crap." shooting a glance at the clock on the wall gulped and grabbed her keys off the table and fumbled to stuff her phone in her sweat pants, "Willow, you made me miss my shower and now I have to go to the gym in my pjs and change there." she glared lightly while the other girl smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry, Buffy, I'll make it up to you. Cookies later?"
The grin she got in return was enough of an answer, "I'll pick up the stuff for them later!" she yelled after Buffy as the door closed. Willow and Dawn peered out the window watching the other girl fumble with her things and open the door to her jeep. They listened to the engine turn over and winced watching as Buffy backed out of the driveway too quickly, knocking over their trash can before speeding off.
Willow shook her head with a worried smile before turning towards Dawn.
"Ok, Dawnie, did you want to go somewhere for breakfast?"
Dawn smiled and nodded. When her mother died Willow stepped up to help Buffy as much as she could and in a way became a second sister as well as a surrogate mother to her in the time Willow stayed in the house with them. Willow was a major figure in her life growing up, along with Xander, both of them were always over at the Summers house, knowing that their parents either weren't home or didn't care where they were. Joyce's death hit them all hard and Dawn would always be grateful that Willow moved into the house with them.
Willow shrugged on a light corduroy jacket,deciding that her pants were fine for the public, and picked up her wallet and keys from the table. "Well, let's go, breakfast is on me. Where do you wanna eat?"
Dawn thought for a moment, "I don't know, we could go to the Espresso Pump? I'm not all that hungry really, muffins sound great. And delicious mochas!"
"Mochas are always of the good, alrighty then onwards towards caffeinated goodness!" The older girl winked and opened the door for Dawn, who giggled and curtsied before heading out the door into the sun.
The walk to the little cafe was uneventful but pleasant, it was a nice day, warm and sunny as typical for the area. The girls chatted about the weather and other casual things on the way, stopping occasionally to pet a dog or say hello to someone on the street before heading off again. Walking to the Espresso Pump was a trip everyone in their group was familiar with, ever since highschool the cafe was one of their two hang out spaces in town and the owner knew them well.
Willow glanced at Dawn while they walked into the shop, "Mocha and a chocolate chip muffin?"
Dawn grinned "You know me well, yes please! I'm gonna go grab us a table." She said walking off to a secluded corner while Willow got in line at the counter.
Looking around the small space Willow smiled softly. She had a lot of memories in this place. Her, Buffy and Xander sitting around a table laughing at one of Xander's stupid jokes. Listening to Buffy drag on about her boyfriends. The nervousness she felt when she came out to them junior year and the overwhelming show of support they showered her with afterwards. Doing homework. 'Well,' she laughed internally stepping up to the counter to place her order, 'I did homework while they complained about it.'
"Willow! So surprised to see you here." The man behind the counter teased good naturedly with a smirk. His aging face showed nothing but friendliness and his balding head was covered badly with a cap.
"Hey, Mark, surprised to see you behind the counter today." The copper haired girl was genuinely surprised to see him serving customers on a Saturday, "Don't you have some poor little highschool kids to do this for you?"
Mark laughed beginning to turn around, raising an eyebrow in question, Willow held up two fingers and Mark nodded getting to work on the mochas "Usually, but two are out of town and the other is sick so I get counter today." With a flourish the man set down two mochas on the counter, "Anything else for my best customer?"
"Um...yeah Dawn wants a chocolate chip muffin and I could really go for one of those chocolate croissants."
"Ok, two delicious breakfast snacks coming right up." He put the food in a small paper bag and set it on the counter "Comes to $11.50, missy."
Willow handed him a 20, "Keep the change, old man, save up for your retirement." Mark feigned offense, slapping a hand to his chest dramatically with a gasp. Willow burst out laughing, grabbing her purchases and heading towards the back of the shop towards Dawn. "I'll talk to you later, Mark!"
Dawn perked up immediately when her coffee was set in front of her "Oh yes, come to momma you sweet, sugary, caffeinated god." Willow's eyebrows shot up to her hairline at the moan the highschooler let out at her first sip.
"You're a little too into that mocha there, Dawnie…"
There was a blush and a shrug in response "It's really good." she muttered into her drink, setting her sights on the brown paper bag. "Muffin please!"
Willow giggled lightly at her young friend, pulling her croissant out of the bag and sliding the muffin across the table. "Have at it, you crazy kid."
The girl's hand paused halfway in the bag, "I'm not a kid." She said pouting, grabbing the muffin and taking a big bite. "I'm 17 now."
Eying the crumbs that spewed out of Dawn's mouth Willow laughed "No Dawn, not a kid, just horrible manners." Dawn blushed again, grumbling slightly and brushing the crumbs off the table. She took another sip of her drink before raising her gaze to look her friend in the eyes.
Catching the serious glint in the younger Summers' girl's eyes, Willow sighed. "I know what you're going to ask, Dawnie, and I'm fine."
"Are you though? You haven't done anything but work on your homework and codes since Kennedy broke up with you a month and a half ago. Even you aren't that focused on work, we all used to go out at least once a week you know."
Willow took a pensive sip of her coffee, it was true, after the break up she fell back on her strengths. She wasn't going to lie, no matter how mutual the break up was, it still hurt and the way she dealt with hurt was by doing things she was good at. That's all it was, she nodded to herself, she wanted to do things she enjoyed and it felt good to do things well. She refused to acknowledge the small voice in the back of her head telling her she was just too scared to meet another girl and have another relationship implode.
Dawn waited for Willow to say anything, she studied the older girl's face as she thought and sighed. Realizing she wasn't going to get a response she pulled out a flyer from her pocket, smoothing out the creases and wrinkles she pushed the sheet across the table for Willow to look at. She looked curiously at the paper, picking it up to read.
"I found this here while you were getting our stuff. Giles is having an open mic contest at The Lounge tonight, I think we should all go. It'll be fun! You, me, Buffy, Xander all out on the town! Anya will be there of course, like she takes a day off...I'm surprised she's going along with this prize to be honest." Dawn put on her winningest smile and pleaded "Please, Willow? We miss hanging out with you."
The red-head knew she wasn't going to be able to argue with that smile. Chuckling to herself she replied, "You know I can't resist that look. Alright, let's go. It'll be fun right? I mean you were right before, I stopped hanging out with you guys and that wasn't fair of me, but you know how I get sometimes." She smiled wistfully at the brown haired girl across from her and shook herself out of her thoughts. "Are you done? We should head back, I have some code to work on and a security system to run through it's paces for a client if we're going to go out tonight." She winked and Dawn squealed and hugged her, trying her best to jump up and down at the same time.
"Yes! This is going to be great I'm so excited! I've never been to an open mic night, I hope some of them are decent at least. Though having them be bad could be just as entertaining." She trailed off thoughtfully still clinging an amused Willow.
"Dawn that's mean." She told her with barely concealed laughter. "Now get off me and get your trash I really need to get back and finish some stuff before tonight, ok?"
As they left, talking and laughing about the night they had planned, the blonde girl from across the room walked hesitantly towards their vacant table. She grabbed the flyer and read it over, humming in thought, tapping her fingers nervously against the page. Nodding to herself she folded the paper neatly, placed it in her pocket and left.
The Lounge was packed. In all the time Giles had owned the space the gang had never seen this many people. In the beginning, the older British man was their school librarian, he had the unique position of being the only faculty member to listen to their complaints about the school. He'd tried to help them as much as he could with what he could in his time there. He was eventually fired for reasons he refused to disclose to the ragtag group that had adopted him as a sort of father figure.
Soon afterwards he found this space for sale, it was decently sized and fairly cheap and with a little coaxing from the teens and Buffy's mother he bought it. The fix up went smoothly, there was already a bar that, while a little beat up, was perfectly safe and functional. Xander helped Giles build a stage for the large open space, sparking his interest in carpentry, which they put near the back so they could place the couches and table and chairs that had been ordered for the space.
The work that went into the little club was obvious. It was classy, but warm and inviting, deep reds and browns permeated the area and accents of black helped ground the space. After a few years The Lounge had made a bit of a name for itself, it garnered enough attention to earn Giles a decent living and now with Anya helming the marketing and finances it seemed to be doing even better.
"Wow…"
"Wow indeed."
The group grinned in unison at the accented voice they heard behind them. "Giles! This place is packed!"
"Yes, it's quite a sight isn't it?" Rupert removed his glasses and gave them a quick rub down with a cloth, "I believe it's your girlfriend I have to thank for this influx, Xander, she's quite ingenious when it comes to income."
Xander puffed out his chest in pride, "That's my, Ahn, money handling genius!"
The girls giggled at him a little before turning to Giles, "So the prize money was Anya's idea?"
"It was, I was just as surprised she was willing to give up money but I obviously underestimated her ability to draw a crowd. With the amount of people here we'll easily double our profit despite paying out the prize to the winner."
"Seriously? That's insane, Giles! Holy crap."
"Hey don't doubt my girl."
"There was no doubting, Xander, just good natured disbelief."
"They made me stamp my hand…"
The adults swiveled to look at their youngest member and laughed at the pout on her face.
"Sorry Dawn, no alcohol for you tonight." Xander tapped her lightly on the shoulder with his fist and grinned.
"Speaking of alcohol, Faith is working the bar tonight, we should go say hi and get some drinks, yeah?" Buffy said starting towards the bar.
"Faith! Hey!"
The dark haired girl looked up, startled, from the drink she was pouring, "Oh, hey, B. Red, Xan, Brat." Dawn scowled at the nickname, but brightened almost immediately when Faith laughed and tossed her a Coke from behind the counter.
"So, the usuals?" A round of nods and Faith pulled out three glasses and some bottles and got to work. She was always a bit of a show off, especially around Buffy, and she couldn't resist a bit of showmanship in her mixing. The practiced way she flipped bottles drew a bit of a crowd to watch her work her magic. A couple of shakes and pours and their drinks were finished.
"There you go guys, enjoy." She winked and started to turn around to serve another customer but Buffy stopped her.
"Faith where's my cherry."
The younger girl blinked. "Oops. My bad, B. One sec stay right there." She rummaged around in front of her, grabbing a cherry and backing up a few paces and tossing right into the glass. "Oh yeah! Two points!"
Buffy shook her head at her excitable friend but grinned despite herself, "You're ridiculous, Faith. Thanks, we're gonna go get a seat before they're all taken. See you later!" Faith waved, soon getting distracted by another patron.
The gang found a miraculously empty couch in a good spot and sat down talking amongst themselves quietly and laughing. Willow took the time to soak in the atmosphere, looking around at her friends with a smile. 'I don't know why I decided that not going out with them was the best idea.' Feeling better than she had since the break up, she took sips of her drink and laughed at Xander's stories.
She leaned over to Dawn, "Thank you for doing this." She whispered in her ear.
Dawn smiled and gave her a hug, "You're always looking after me, it's only fair I look after you sometimes." Willow returned the hug and was about to respond when they heard Anya's voice from the stage.
"Hello! I'm glad to see my ideas are just as wonderful as I knew they were. Welcome to The Lounge's first open mic contest! The winner will get 150 of our hard earned dollars as a prize and you, the customer, get the rejoice in their success or failures. Please relax, buy alcohol and food from our kitchen. Enjoy the show and please return with more money!" The patrons laughed, albeit a little uncomfortably, at the woman's enthusiasm, watching her happily take her leave of the stage.
"Oh, Anya…" Xander shook his head lightly, smiling after his girlfriend. "She's a special one…"
There were 20 participants in the contest in all, accompanied by the house band (students from the college, mostly paid in free booze), and all of them were entertaining in their own way. Some were amazing and engaging with powerful voices and personalities, some were less than talented but were good natured about some of the laughter that accompanied their singing, and still others that fell in places in between.
Willow was increasingly glad she had come out with her friends, the live singing was fun, she was a little buzzed and she had forgotten how good the food at The Lounge was. She smiled and leaned back into the plush red couch, swinging an arm over Buffy's shoulders.
"We should go out more, Buff, this is fun! I hope they do these contests more too." She swung out the arm not over Buffy's shoulders in an over enthusiastic gesture to the whole club, "I mean, it's so nice and happy in here and the music is nice and even when it's not it's funny right? And it's Giles' place we shou-"
Buffy and Dawn looked at Willow curiously, wondering why she trailed off in the middle of her sentence, only to find her gaze locked onto the stage. The sisters glanced at each other, then turned their eyes to whatever it was their best friend was looking at. Though they weren't sure what they were going to find, neither of them really expected the stunning blonde they found.
Willow was transfixed, green eyes taking in the sight of the stranger standing timidly on the stage in front of them. She didn't even know this girl, but here she was staring in awe at her. The blonde seemed to be about her age, but in a way seemed much older, she carried herself with a subtle grace that was halfway hidden by her shyness. Willow trailed her eyes over the woman, noting how she seemed to be trying her hardest hide behind her dark blonde hair as she stepped up to the mic, the black dress she wore clinging to her curves and pulling against her as she took her steps.
The girl swallowed nervously, and finally opened her eyes. Willow swallowed a gasp, "Wow…" she breathed out, not even conscious she spoke aloud, her eyes still glued to the woman on stage while her friends looked at her with small smiles.
"H-h-hi, everyb-b-b-ody." The poor girl cringed slightly, blushing at her stutter and nervousness. A couple people snickered at her stutter, making her draw back into herself a little, hiding farther behind her hair, "I guess I'm sup-p-posed to introduce m-myself. I'm T-tara."
Willow smiled, mouthing the name to herself. 'This girl is adorable,' she thought 'Gorgeous and adorable.'
Tara took a deep breath, steeling herself and with a determined look passing over her still blushing face she nodded at the band. Gripping the mic loosely with one hand and trailing the other down the stand, she let the music wash over her and any trace of nervousness vanished. The change in her was palpable, the quiet conversations in the room went silent, looking at the newly confident woman standing in front of them. Her eyes closed to keep herself centered, blocking out the faces of the people around her and focusing on what she knew she was good at.
Starting soft and breathy, the voice that came from the blonde was nonetheless obviously powerful. She moved slightly with the music, getting comfortable on the stage and in the song, her voice effortlessly changing pitch and tone. Mesmerized, the audience, a slight green eyed woman in particular, sat transfixed in awe of what they were seeing.
Old flame, you're still the one that holds me
Can't you feel it burning?
Can't you feel it burning still?
The strength the nervous girl brought into the chorus of the song was striking. No one could really believe the girl that looked like she was about to bolt the stage was the same one. Willow watched amazed at the expressions flitting across Tara's face as she sang, her mouth wouldn't close, not that she even noticed it was open in the first place.
Tara pressed herself lightly against the microphone stand, completely lost in her song.
I flicker and sway
Still dancing on the aftertaste
I remember gold days
Wrapped up in the warmth we made
Willow watched the blonde grip the stand, her body moving fluidly in time with the beat, obviously completely unaware of the stunned stares on her. The singer's tenuous grasp around the thin stand tightened, her expression hardening slightly as she readied herself to belt out the next lyrics.
Smoke skies, colors and cloud nines
Circles and straight lines and drowned eyes
From such heights, I fell into Fahrenheit
And time only fuels the desire.
While everyone else was keeping both eyes on the blonde singing her heart out on stage Willow's friends kept one eye on the obviously smitten girl. In all the time they'd known her they had never seen the look she had in her eye until now, complete and utter amazement was reflected through her green irises. It was like she was witnessing something magical.
A collective hush went over the audience as the music stopped. Tara let out a shuddering breath, her eyes still closed, seemingly waiting for some sort of reaction. After a second had gone by with no such reaction Dawn rolled her eyes and let out a loud whoop of appreciation, clapping, prompting everyone else to do the same. Startled by the sudden influx of applause Tara jumped slightly, popping her eyes open, blush darkening her cheeks and landing her gaze right into Willow's eyes.
The accidental connection sent a shock through her, she couldn't blink, she couldn't look away from those blue eyes and it seemed that Tara was having the same problem. She could only manage one breathy whisper,
"Wow…"
Alright this was really hard writing is hard idk why i'm doing this. I'm going to try to update at least once a week. and I'll try to keep the lyrics to a minimum unless people would like me to put all of the lyrics in the story but i don't think that's really in demand i was too lazy to read through this so it probably is more terrible than it needed to be. my bad
Song was Old Flame by Kimbra (there will probably be a lot of Kimbra's music because that song was the one that inspired the story and i listen to a lot of her stuff while i'm writing. I'll try to mix it up as much as possible though I don't want to be that person lol) Anyway plz bug me for updates or else i won't do it probably.